A varied bag this week: Calls to civic action, Elvis on the big screen, summer movie memories, recent hits on VOD, and a lovely little movie about a mollusk.
I burst out laughing at your account of The Great Coolidge Monster Riot. But there are predecessors. I’m recalling “The Hammy” (formally the Hamilton Theater) on Bowdoin St in Dorchester circa 1943. At one level, we went there only to torment “Charlie” the much beleaguered manager. It too was a dump. Every Saturday, we eagerly awaited the next episode of whatever cheesy western serial was on offer. But if ir was an inadvertent rerun of last week’s or the film broke in the middle, all hell broke loose, just as you described. Ten year old boys can become unmanageable pretty quickly— poor Charlie. On rare occasions we had enough funding to afford the Strand in Upham’s Corner, much, much, more sedate and we behaved ourselves. And- my older sister ran the candy counter!! A good deal. The Strand is still in business under City auspices.
I burst out laughing at your account of The Great Coolidge Monster Riot. But there are predecessors. I’m recalling “The Hammy” (formally the Hamilton Theater) on Bowdoin St in Dorchester circa 1943. At one level, we went there only to torment “Charlie” the much beleaguered manager. It too was a dump. Every Saturday, we eagerly awaited the next episode of whatever cheesy western serial was on offer. But if ir was an inadvertent rerun of last week’s or the film broke in the middle, all hell broke loose, just as you described. Ten year old boys can become unmanageable pretty quickly— poor Charlie. On rare occasions we had enough funding to afford the Strand in Upham’s Corner, much, much, more sedate and we behaved ourselves. And- my older sister ran the candy counter!! A good deal. The Strand is still in business under City auspices.